The present research was organized to assess the effects of varying dietary levels of manganese on growth, feed efficiency, mineralization and antioxidant response of fingerling stinging catfish ...Heteropneustes fossilis (7.84 ± 0.08 g). Isonitrogenous (400 g kg−1 crude protein) and isocaloric (17.89 kJ g−1 gross energy) casein-gelatin based purified diets containing varying levels of manganese (1.85, 3.79, 5.92, 7.68, 9.82, 12.09 and 13.96 mg kg−1) were formulated and fed to triplicate groups of fish for a period of 12 week. MnSO4.H2O was used as the dietary manganese source. Absolute weight gain, protein gain, protein efficiency ratio and feed conversion ratio were found to improve with increasing dietary manganese level from 1.85 to7.68 mg kg−1 diet and then stabilized. Whole body protein and moisture content were found to improve with increasing dietary manganese level up to 7.68 mg kg−1 followed by no change on further increase in dietary manganese. On the other hand, whole body fat reduced with increasing dietary manganese level up to 7.68 mg kg−1 and then stabilized. However, body ash was not significantly (P > .05) affected by graded levels of dietary manganese. Whole body and vertebrae mineralization was also affected by dietary manganese levels. Except whole body copper, zinc and vertebrae zinc concentration all other minerals such as manganese, iron, calcium and phosphorus were significantly (P < .05) affected with increasing dietary manganese levels. Hepatic antioxidant enzymes activity, total superoxide dismutase, manganese superoxide dismutase and catalase activity were found to improve with increasing dietary manganese levels from 1.85 to 7.68 mg kg−1. Malondialdehyde concentration exhibited decreasing tendency (P < .05) with incremental manganese levels in the diets from 1.85 to 7.68 mg kg−1 and then stabilized. Condition factor and hepatosomatic index were also found to decrease with increase in dietary manganese levels while viscerosomatic index did not show any change in response to variable levels of dietary manganese. Broken-line regression analysis of absolute weight gain, protein gain, vertebrae manganese and hepatic Mn-SOD activity against variable levels of dietary manganese depicted the optimal dietary manganese requirement for fingerling H. fossilis ranging between 7.81 and 8.16 mg kg−1 diet.
•Optimum dietary manganese requirement of stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis was quantified.•Dietary manganese level in diets improved growth, feed efficiency and antioxidant response of H. fossilis.•Dietary manganese level of 7.81 to 8.16 mg kg−1 in the diets of fingerling H. fossilis is recommended.
With the globally increasing electricity demand, its related uncertainties are on the rise as well. Therefore, a deeper insight of load forecasting techniques for projecting future electricity ...demands becomes imperative for business entities and policy makers. The electricity demand is governed by a set of different variables or “electricity demand determinants”. These demand determinants depend on forecasting horizons (long term, medium term, and short term), the load aggregation level, climate, and socio-economic activities. In this paper, a review of different electricity demand forecasting methodologies is provided in the context of a group of low and middle income countries. The article presents a comprehensive literature review by tabulating the different demand determinants used in different countries and forecasting the trends and techniques used in these countries. A comparative review of these forecasting methodologies over different time horizons reveals that the time series modeling approach has been extensively used while forecasting for long and medium terms. For short term forecasts, artificial intelligence-based techniques remain prevalent in the literature. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the demand determinants in these countries indicates a frequent use of determinants like the population, GDP, weather, and load data over different time horizons. Following the analysis, potential research gaps are identified, and recommendations are provided, accordingly.
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•Hydrazone-based ONO pincer mono-nuclear Al complexes were synthesized and characterized.•These ONO-pincer Al-complexes are excellent catalyst for the fixation of CO2.•The coupling ...was catalyzed at atmospheric pressure with the highest conversion.•For the mechanistic investigation intermediate species were detected.
Carbon dioxide, the main cause of environmental pollution, its utilization to produce valuable products is of utmost interest. A series ONO pincer hydrazone based most active mono-nuclear Al(III) complexes were successfully synthesized and characterized with the help of NMR, IR, mass spectrometry and only complex 2a was confirmed by single-crystal analysis. The synthesized Al(III) complexes were then employed as capable catalysts for the solvent-free chemical fixation of CO2 with epoxides at atmospheric pressure and could be reused five times without loss of any catalytic activity. In addition, the catalytic mechanism was investigated by analyzing intermediates via 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass MALDI-TOF. The excellent catalytic performance could be due to simultaneous attack and the opening of the epoxide by metal centers to form an alkoxide ion which activates the CO2 the same time.
Disruption of endogenous circadian rhythms has been shown to increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, suggesting that circadian genes might play a role in determining disease susceptibility. ...We present the results of a pilot study investigating the association between type 2 diabetes and selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in/near nine circadian genes. The variants were chosen based on their previously reported association with prostate cancer, a disease that has been suggested to have a genetic link with type 2 diabetes through a number of shared inherited risk determinants.
The pilot study was performed using two genetically homogeneous Punjabi cohorts, one resident in the United Kingdom and one indigenous to Pakistan. Subjects with (N = 1732) and without (N = 1780) type 2 diabetes were genotyped for thirteen circadian variants using a competitive allele-specific polymerase chain reaction method. Associations between the SNPs and type 2 diabetes were investigated using logistic regression. The results were also combined with in silico data from other South Asian datasets (SAT2D consortium) and white European cohorts (DIAGRAM+) using meta-analysis. The rs7602358G allele near PER2 was negatively associated with type 2 diabetes in our Punjabi cohorts (combined odds ratio OR = 0.75 0.66-0.86, p = 3.18 × 10(-5)), while the BMAL1 rs11022775T allele was associated with an increased risk of the disease (combined OR = 1.22 1.07-1.39, p = 0.003). Neither of these associations was replicated in the SAT2D or DIAGRAM+ datasets, however. Meta-analysis of all the cohorts identified disease associations with two variants, rs2292912 in CRY2 and rs12315175 near CRY1, although statistical significance was nominal (combined OR = 1.05 1.01-1.08, p = 0.008 and OR = 0.95 0.91-0.99, p = 0.015 respectively).
None of the selected circadian gene variants was associated with type 2 diabetes with study-wide significance after meta-analysis. The nominal association observed with the CRY2 SNP, however, complements previous findings and confirms a role for this locus in disease susceptibility.
Phyllosphere or aerial surface of plants represents the globally largest and peculiar microbial habitat that inhabits diverse and rich communities of bacteria, fungi, viruses, cyanobacteria, ...actinobacteria, nematodes, and protozoans. These hyperdiverse microbial communities are related to the host’s specific functional traits and influence the host's physiology and the ecosystem's functioning. In the last few years, significant advances have been made in unravelling several aspects of phyllosphere microbiology, including diversity and microbial community composition, dynamics, and functional interactions. This review highlights the current knowledge about the assembly, structure, and composition of phyllosphere microbial communities across spatio-temporal scales, besides functional significance of different microbial communities to the plant host and the surrounding environment. The knowledge will help develop strategies for modelling and manipulating these highly beneficial microbial consortia for furthering scientific inquiry into their interactions with the host plants and also for their useful and economic utilization.
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•Cyclic carbonates are produced using a triazole based Co-complex at ambient pressure.•The catalyst is highly active under solvent free condition with TONs up to 85 × 103.•The ...catalyst is used with the variety of substrate exhibiting good to excellent conversions.•The catalyst is stable for at least five cycles with no significant loss in activity.
Over the past decades, a lot of efforts have been made for the fixation of carbon dioxide (CO2) into epoxide for the synthesis of industrially important cyclic carbonates. Here, a cobalt(II) complex based on triazole, namely Co(II)-1,2,3-1H-triazole-4-carboxylate, was synthesized, fully characterized by FTIR, NMR, mass spectrometry, and single crystal X-ray diffraction, and used as a catalyst for the cycloaddition of CO2 to epoxides. The catalytic studies demonstrated that the catalyst is highly active for the CO2 fixation, with high turnover number (TON, 85 × 103) even without the use of solvent and at ambient pressure (1 bar) to produce a variety of different cyclic carbonates depending on the epoxide. Remarkably, the catalyst was used continuously further by the addition of a fresh amount of the substrate within the same reaction mixture for at least five successive reaction cycles without any loss in the catalytic activity.
Decision-making in aortic disease Wu, Jinlin; Zafar, Mohammad A; Elefteriades, John A
European heart journal,
2024-Feb-21, 2024-02-21, 20240221, Letnik:
45, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Massive advances in internet infrastructure are impacting e-healthcare services compared to conventional means. Therefore, extra care and protection is needed for extremely confidential patient ...medical records. With this intention, we have proposed an enhanced image steganography method, to improve imperceptibility and data hiding capacity of stego images. The proposed Image Region Decomposition (IRD) method, embeds more secret information with better imperceptibility, in patient's medical images. The algorithm decomposes the grayscale magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images into three unique regions: low-intensity, medium-intensity, and high-intensity. Each region is made up of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">k </tex-math></inline-formula> number of pixels, and in each pixel we operate the block of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">n </tex-math></inline-formula> least significant bits (LSBs), where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1 \leq n \leq 3 </tex-math></inline-formula>. Four classes of MRI images of different dimensions are used for embedding. Data with different volumes are used to test the images for imperceptibility and verified with quality factors. The proposed IRD algorithm is tested for performance, on the set of brain MRI images using peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), mean square error (MSE) and structural similarity (SSIM) index. The results elucidated that the MRI stego image is imperceptible, like the original cover image by adjusting <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">2^{nd} </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1^{st} </tex-math></inline-formula> LSBs in the low-intensity region. Our proposed steganography technique provides a better average PSNR (49.27), than other similar methods. The empirical results show that the proposed IRD algorithm, significantly improves the imperceptibility and data embedding capacity, compared to the existing state-of-the-art methods.
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